Henry Hunter left Poplar Tent when Watts's Psalms were 'unwillingly thrust on a minority'

Context

This passage from the “Sketches of Ministers” section of the Centennial History provides biographical background on John Hunter, a minister, by tracing his family origins. The account reveals that his grandparents, Henry Hunter and Martha Sloan, emigrated from the North of Ireland during the 1768-1773 period. When Watts’s Psalms were introduced at Poplar Tent, Henry Hunter helped organize Prosperity ARP Church. John Hunter’s son Thomas was the father of the minister John Hunter (born 1814), who later graduated from Jefferson College and the Due West Seminary.

Extract

“During the years beginning 1768 and ending 1773, the North of Ireland was drained of more than one-fourth of its population.” During this period came Henry Hunter and Martha (Sloan), having married in the old country. They made their way from Charleston, S. C. When about 1788, Watts’ version of the Psalms was unwillingly thrust on a minority at Poplar Tent, he with others organized Prosperity A. R. church, Mecklenburg Co., N. C.

Significance

This extract provides valuable corroboration for the Prosperity Church origin account from a different section of the same source. While the congregation sketch (page 565) states families “withdrew because of the aforesaid innovation,” this biographical entry adds the vivid phrase “unwillingly thrust on a minority”—suggesting the psalm-singers felt the change was imposed against their will rather than adopted by consensus. The passage also adds Henry Hunter to the named individuals who made this transfer (alongside Adam Meek, Robert Hunter, James Hunter, and James Steele from the Prosperity sketch). The immigration context—Henry Hunter arrived from the North of Ireland during the 1768-1773 exodus—suggests connections between Scots-Irish identity and psalmody convictions, a pattern worth exploring.